It's difficult to say, but for each business, there is a scale when it comes to qualifications and basic wage. So, when you hire a dishwasher, a head chef or a section manager, there is a sliding pay scale with a minimum and maximum range for each position. When you manage your business, you know how much to set aside for each position in order to remain profitable and keep your doors open. Because that's the bottom line: you have to stay open and remain an employer in the community. If you aren't able to cover your business costs, then you won't remain a viable business; you have a budget. A dishwasher's wage is pretty much set. If the dishwasher has been with you for five years, well then yes, you can increase his or her wage, but there has to be a maximum to this range which you cannot exceed. But when someone starts working again, has to turn up to work every day and get back into the swing of things, then he or she may wish to climb up the ladder within a business and get some vocational training which is appropriate to the business.
What I find frustrating is that there are no programs focusing on what small businesses can do for workers. We transmit our experience on a day-to-day basis, we show all our employees what we've learned throughout our career and in the courses we took at school, and this is never recognized, we never get anything back for it. We're always asked to pay more, but we can't. We do what we can and we know our limits. So, if someone wants to work, learn a new vocation, well there are opportunities for such people. Instead of having a system which penalizes people when things start going well, we should be helping these people and giving them a leg-up so they enjoy a better quality of life while getting back into the workforce.